Weft-feeler for looms.



C. E. NUTTING. WEFT FEELER FOR LOOMS. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 2B. 1915.

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Patented May 1, 1917.

C. E. NUTTING. WEFT FEELER FOR LOOMS. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 28. I915.

Patented May 1, 1917.

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C. E. NUTTING. WEFT FEELER FOR LQOMS. APPLICATION FILED 06128. I915.

1,22%,775. Patented May 1, 1917.

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i Specification of Letters'P atent.

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PatentedMay i, tart.

Application filed October 28, 1915. Serial No. MAQG.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLEs E. Nu'rrmo,

. a resident of Hopedale, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certainnew-and useful Improve.

ments in Weft-Feelers for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

" The present invention 1s an improvement upon the weft feeler for looms set forth in the United StatesLetters Patent of Northrop No. 911,672, February 9, 1909. In that patent a feeler mechanism is described which has two feeler fingers which enter the shuttle when in the shuttle box at the detectingside of the loom'and come in contact with the weft wound upon the bobbin or other weft carrier within the shuttle.

"Prior to the complete exhaustion of the weft, the feeler fingers act so as toset the weft replenishing mechanism in. action prior that a filled weft carrier is inserted in the shuttle before the working weft is entirely exhausted, thus weaving c loth without any absent or imperfect picks. The feeler mech- "with a feeler lock which prevents the pre mature accidental weft initiating action of the feeler mechanism. This lock restrains the feeler fingers from their weft replenish:

ing initiating difierential movement during the normal running of the loom, but when the weft has been depleted to the point where the differential movement of the two feelers should take place, the lock is moved from its locking position by contact with the front wall of the shuttle. This introduces' uncertainty into theaction of the feeler'mechanism because of the varying positions which the weft 'carriermayoccupy in the shuttle due to the elastic mountlng of, the weft carrier in the shuttle and also due to the lack of uniformity in difierent shuttles and weft carriers.

The present invention consists in a novel .lock for the differentially moving feeler finger, and the unlocking-is the result of effective contact between the lock actuator.

. and the, bobbin or other weft carrier. Hence,

the {initiation of weft replenishment is not dependent upon any conditions which may resultibecause ofvariations in the sizetor positionuof-the weft carriers.

Fig. 2, is a vertical section in the plane indicated by the line 2-2 in Fig. 1, ig. 3, 1s a planview, partly in section, of the ortionof the mechanism shown in Fig. l,

illustrating the initiation of the .weft replenishing action. lar to Fig. 3, illustrating a modification.

In the drawlngs A, is a portion of the lay at the detecting side of the. loom; B,

isthe shuttle; C, is the weft'carrier held within the shuttle by means of theelastic spring Jaws D; and E, is the front wall of'the shuttle box. The frontwallof the shuttle box and the front wall of the shuttle are apertured for the reception of the :feeler fingers as 1llustrated in Fig. 1. There are two feeler fingers F and G. The feeler finger F, is mounted to slide back and forth on a fixed part of the 100m in front of the lay. It is moved to the rear by the spring H, and it is moved forwardly in opposition to the spring H,during. the forward swing of the lay after the mass of weftli, on the bobbin 0, comes in contact with it; The second feeler finger G, is pivoted at.a,to the feeler finger F, and it is normally maintained in the position shown in Fig. l, by a spring 7;, which holds itsforward extension or actuating member J, against an upwardly projecting shoulder a, .on the feeler finger F; The feeler' finger G, is further held in the normal position shown in Fig. 1, by means of the lock K, whichnormally stands in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, obstructing any swing of the actuating member J, of the feeler finger G,Ito the left.

This lock K, has a forward andback sliding movementof the feeler finger F, sliding in a guide way formed in the feelerfinger F. The look K, is normally held in its locking position by means of a spring L, best; shown in Fig. 2. This lock has a rearwardly extending controlling finger M, which extin'ds rearwardly beyond the rear face of the feelers...

.fingerF. The projecting'end of this ac- [bin or other weft carrier Fig. 4, is a view simi- During the normal running of the loom and while there is ample weft in the shuttle,

each time the shuttle is in the shuttle box;

the soft weft and there is no forward movement of the lock K, relatively to the feeler fingers F and G. Consequently the lock remains in its locking position and prevents the differential movement of the feeler finger G. I, I

' When, however, the weft reaches the critical period of depletion, the lock actuating finger M, comes effectively into contact with the hard material of the bobbin or other weft carrier; and, as the result, the lock K, is driven forwardly against the tension of its spring L, thereby removing the look so it no longer obstructs the differential movement of the finger G, with respect to the feeler finger F, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

Preferably, the weft is so wound upon the weft carrier C, that this unlocking of a the differentially moving finger G, occurs when the weft is present only in register with the feeler finger F, so that the bare weft carrier is opposite the feeler finger G, as shown in Fig. 2. Owing to the very slight extent to which the finger G, extends backwardly beyond the finger F, when this stage of weft depletion has been reached, the finger Gr, may not come in contact with the bare bobbin at all. lilventually, however, as the weaving continues the bunch of weft will. be so far reduced that the finger G, will encounter the bare bobbin before the finger F, encounters the bunch of weft. This advance encounter by the finger (1?,

occurs immediately after the lock K, has it been moved forwardly out of the way of the actuatingend J, of the finger G, owing to the bobbin striking the lock actuating finger M, in advance of the bobbin encountering the finger G. It will be noted that the lock actuating finger M, extends reaiwardly beyond the finger F, farther than does the finger G, as shown in Fig. 1. The result of this swinging differential movement of the finger G, with respect to the finger F, is to swing the actuating member J, to the left as shown in Fig; 3. This swing occurs while the forward end of the actuating member J, is behind an upwardly extending projection d, of a controlling lever O, which is pivoted at c, to a fixed part of the loom. Consequently, as the fingers F and G, move forward during the continued advance of the lay, the notched forward end of the actuating member encounters the projection cl, of the lever O, and hence swings said lever O, forwardly as illustrated in Fig, 3. This forward movement of the controlling lever O, initiates the action of the weft replenishing mechanism in the manner described in the aforesaid Northrop-patent.

With this feeler mechanism the amount of waste weft can be reduced to a minimum without the danger of any premature action of the weft replenishing mechanism F ig. 4., illustrates a modification. The differences are two only. The bobbin C, is shown with a portion of the weft carrier of diminished diameter at 1, which contains a preliminary winding or bunch of weft; and the finger F, is shown with a corresponding rearward projection Q, to cooperate therewith. Otherwise the construction is the same as in Fig. 3, and the mode of operation is just the same.

I claim 1. A weft replenishing loom having a feeler mechanism comprising two differentially moving feeler fingers both of which enter the shuttle and contact with the weft therein, and a lock for one of said feelers, said lock also having a penetrating member which enters the shuttle and contacts with the weft therein.

2. A weft replenishing loom having a feeler mechanism comprising two feeler fingers and a lock for one of them, said lock having a penetrating member entering the shuttle and contacting with the weft therein.

3. A weft replenishing loom having a feeler mechanism comprising two differentially moving feeler fingers both of which enter the shuttle and contact with the Weft therein, and a lock for one of said feelers, said lock having a pointed actuating finger which enters the shuttle and sinks into the weft when the weft is present in ample quantity and thereby maintains the lock in locking position, said lock being moved to unlocking position when the penetrating member is effectively encountered by the weft carrier.

L. A weft replenishing loom having a feeler mechanism comprising two feeler fingers and a lock for one of them, said lock having a pointed actuating finger which enters the shuttle and sinks into the weft when the weft is present in ample quantity and thereby maintains the lock in lookmg position, said lock being moved to unlocking position when the penetrating memher is effectivelyencountered by the weft carrier. l

5. A weft replenishing loom having a feeler mechanism comprising two feeler finand a loclcfor one of them, said lock having a weft penetrating actuating finger, both said feeler finger and said lock actuating finger'entering the shuttle and coming in contact with the weft thereimsaid 13o weft penetrating lock actuating finger exin its normal position, the spring actuated tending farther to the rear. than said feeler lock K, having a. pointed weft penetrating finger when the shuttle is not at the detectactuating finger M, which extends to the ing side of the loom. rear farther than the said finger G, when, 5 6. A weft replenishing 100m ,having a the shuttle is not at the detecting sideof 15 feeler mechanism comprising the spring the 100m. moved fe'el'eri finger F, the feeler finger In witness whereof, I- have hereunto G, pivoted to said finger 1:" and having a signed my name. .forwardly extending actuatln member, a 10 spring I), maintaining the f in finger G, CHARLES E.'NUTTING. 

